Shirley: a reader, a writer, a person.

The summer of Shirley's second grade year she was diagnosed with Dyslexia. She had been passed from tutor too tutor for years, no one bothering to actually find out what was wrong. She had only passed her previous years of education because of her talent for mathematics and friendly disposition. Teachers would help where they could, but didn't have the proper tools. Her ability to memorize gave her passing test scores. but memorization is not education. She finally got help when her mother found the Clara Barton method and a tutor who knew how to use it. This fantastic woman would go to work in Midland every morning, drive 30 minutes back to Mt. Pleasant pick up her young daughter from school, and then make the drive back to Midland so Shirley could learn how to read. Deb Schafer did this selflessly twice a week for two years, and once a week for the last year of tutoring. An incredible woman who did anything she could to give her daughter a chance to be what and who she wanted to be. Shirley now loves to read; fantasy, science fiction, and so much more. Her favorite books are the Harry Potter series, which her mother started reading to her because she was not yet at the reading level necessary to read them herself. Through her love of stories and imagination, Deb not only gave Shirley the tools she needed to learn to read, but also gave her the passion to grow to love it.

Shirley's Dyslexia greatly effects her ability to spell, but this has never stopped her from writing. She believes that writing is one of the most powerful forms of expression. Although she doesn't consider herself to be a particularly good writer, she loves creating characters. She has created whole new worlds inside her mind, but is never satisfied when attempting to put her ideas on paper. This dissatisfaction is mostly limited to stories however. She writes poetry quite often and occasionally shares her work with a select few. With an imagination as active as hers it is hard to predict what she will do next.